Pirates Designate Kyle Lobstein For Assignment

The Pirates announced that they have selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Kelvin Marte and, in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, designated fellow southpaw Kyle Lobstein for assignment. Additionally, the Bucs have recalled infielder Alen Hanson from Triple-A and optioned right-hander Jameson Taillon and lefty Steven Brault to their rookie-level affiliate in the Appalachian League. (That pair figures to be recalled in short order once rosters expand, of course.)

Lobstein, 27, was acquired by Pittsburgh in an offseason trade with the Tigers and wound up tossing 25 innings out of manager Clint Hurdle’s bullpen this season. The soft-tosser worked to a 3.96 ERA with a 15-to-12 K/BB ratio and a 50 percent ground-ball rate while holding opposing lefties to a comedic .083/.241/.083 slash line in an admittedly small sample of 29 plate appearances. Right-handed batters, consequently, tattooed Lobstein at a .324/.400/.507 clip in 81 PAs. In 128 career innings at the big league level, Lobstein has a 5.06 ERA with 5.2 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 49.8 percent ground-ball rate.

As for Marte, the 28-year-old will be making his big league debut if he gets into a game with the Bucs. The longtime Giants farmhand has pitched to a 3.67 earned run average in 73 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season and owns a lifetime 3.39 ERA in 790 2/3 minor league innings.

I heard one of the Pirates announcers recently say that MLB is cracking down on these “paperwork” transactions. The league office doesn’t want teams sending guys down unless, well, they are actually sending them down. So it’s quite possible that those guys are going to Bristol, which is the Bucs’ team in the Appalachian League. Why Bristol and not AAA or AA? Because the Appalachian League season ends in a couple of days, sooner than either AAA or AA.